How Customs Works

To most people, customs is just another stop in the airport, but to smugglers, customs agencies are a highly mobilized border guard.

One of the little rituals all international travelers go through is customs. To most people, this is just another stop in an airport or a minor inconvenience at a country's borders. But when you go through customs, you are actually taking part in a key component of the global economy.

A nation's customs service has many responsibilities. At its most basic level, its purpose is to regulate what comes into and goes out of a country. The foremost element of this regulation is controlling international trade. The concept of trade is as old as civilization itself. Any nation wants its own businesses to do well, so most of the time they prefer their people buy domestic goods over competing foreign goods. But in many cases, goods are available cheaper in another country than in your country, and people naturally want to buy them at the lower price. To tilt the balance in favor of domestic businesses, governments impose tariffs, also called duty, on foreign goods coming into the country.

In addition to encouraging domestic trade, duty also gives the nation a "piece of the action" when somebody buys something produced overseas. Customs agencies are often major sources of revenue for the government. The U.S. Customs Service, for example, brings in more money than any other government office except the Internal Revenue Service. To control specific sorts of trade, a government may impose a higher tariff on certain types of goods (alcohol, for example). Certain countries may join together to work out mutually beneficial trade agreements, enabling businesses in those nations to trade more freely with each other than they can with businesses in other nations. This gives an advantage to nations that a country has a good relationship with.

Customs agencies also monitor what is being exported from a country. For example, most governments strictly regulate what weapons can be exported to other nations. This is simply a common-sense safety measure: It's not a good idea to arm enemy nations, so the government has to know who is buying any domestically-produced weaponry.

Duty charges have a huge effect on big businesses, which may import millions of dollars worth of goods every year. To regulate trade on this level, a country's customs agency must keep track of all shipments that come into the nation's ports or cross its borders. They can't check every bit of foreign cargo, of course, so agents pick certain boxes to inspect and certain shipments to scrutinize. In an effort to speed up the process, the U.S. Customs Service is implementing new, computerized systems for processing shipments and charging importers.

Some customs agencies decide which travellers to search based on random chance. You are asked to press a button on a machine that activates a random number generator. Depending on the number that comes up, either a green light comes on and you can pass through or a red light comes on and the agent searches your bags. Other customs agencies decide who to search based solely on intuition. After many years on the job, a customs agent develops a keen eye for people who are up to no good. Unlike the police, customs agents are fully authorized to search your luggage, clothes and even your body without any warrant or reason for suspicion. Customs agents often work side-by-side with immigration officials, and in some ports of entry, one inspector may represent both agencies. But at its core, a customs agency is concerned with the things that are coming in and out of a country, rather than the travelers themselves.

In addition to monitoring legal imports, a nation's customs agency also works to keep out illegal or contraband items.

4. Find the English equivalents of the following phrases in the text:

один из ключевых компонентов мировой экономики; разумная мера безопасности; незначительное неудобство на границе страны; ввести более высокий тариф; вооружать неприятельские государства; главные источники доходов; товары стоимостью миллионы долларов; изменить равновесие в пользу отечественных предприятий; оружие, произведённое внутри страны; взыскивать плату с импортёров

Дата добавления: 2015-11-15